This section is intended to introduce various aspects of the art, which may be associated with exemplary embodiments of the present invention. This discussion is believed to assist in providing a framework to facilitate a better understanding of particular aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that this section should be read in this light, and not necessarily as admissions of prior art.
Many applications involve processing information about physical properties. When processing information relating to physical properties of complex systems, it may be desirable to provide a physical property model representative of physical properties that are useful for a specific purpose. These properties may help hydrocarbon exploration professionals to locate hydrocarbon resources in the subsurface of the earth or to improve production of known hydrocarbon resources. Physical properties of hydrocarbon resources may be modeled to assist in the design and placement of wells to extract hydrocarbon resources from the subsurface.
The process of designing a drill well to produce or inject oil, gas, or other fluids involves planning and designing a well path trajectory to optimally produce from or inject into an underground reservoir. Well path planning takes into account many factors in order to meet the objectives of the drilling campaign in a wide range of settings. For example, it may be desirable to determine in an exploration setting whether a target region has particular physical properties that are judged sufficient to justify continuation of an exploration program. In a development setting, a determination may be made regarding whether enough hydrocarbon resources are present such that a proposed well may be exploited commercially. In a production setting, it may be determined whether a proposed well location optimizes recovery or injection volumes and rates.
Other factors that may be considered in well planning include the integrity of the wellbore while drilling and the safety of the drilling crew. As a result, maintaining a minimal distance from identified subsurface objects that could impair drilling performance and safety may be considered in a well planning analysis.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20060151214 by Prange, et al. relates to a method to automatically design a multi-well development plan given a set of previously interpreted subsurface targets. The disclosed method identifies the optimal plan by minimizing the total cost as a function of existing and required new platforms, the number of wells, and the drilling cost of each of the wells. The cost of each well is a function of the well path and the overall complexity of the well.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20060074561 by Xia, et al. relates to a method for displaying a formation model, including displaying a trajectory representing a three-dimensional structure of the wellbore. The disclosed method also includes displaying objects representing a bed boundary along the trajectory. The objects are displayed at distances from the trajectory according to measurement data. In addition, the objects are displayed in orientations reflecting azimuth angles of planes corresponding to the bed boundary.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20070236221 by Merchant, et al. relates to measurements made with a multi-component logging instrument when used in a substantially horizontal borehole in earth formations. The measurements are stated to be diagnostic of the direction of beds relative to the position of the borehole. When the logging instrument is conveyed on a drilling assembly, the drilling trajectory may be maintained to follow a predetermined trajectory or to maintain a desired distance from a boundary such as an oil-water contact.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20050165555 by Jackson relates to a visualization program that is embedded with data that is to be visualized. The disclosed program is restricted to accessing only the data with that is embedded within. The combination of the program and the data may be delivered to an end-user either on a machine-readable medium or by a communication link such as the Internet.
International Patent Application Publication No. WO2005071222 by Sung, et al. relates to an earth model that is formed in real time during drilling of a well by incorporating current knowledge derived from geology, seismic, drilling, and engineering data. The process of forming the model utilizes Logging-While Drilling (LWD) or Measuring-While-Drilling (MWD) data directly from the drilling rig as the well is drilled. The LWD or MWD data is sent to visualization centers and compared with other data such as existing geological models, the proposed well plan and present interpretation of the subsurface stratigraphy. The results of the comparison is said to enable experts to analyze anomalous results and update the geological model within minutes of penetration of a formation during drilling. The disclosure states that well drilling efficiency is improved, and that an “on-the-spot” road map may be provided for maximal reservoir contact and pinpoint accuracy.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,337,067 to Sanstrom discloses a system and method for perceiving drilling learning through visualization is provided. One disclosed system employs three-dimensional visualization of an earth model as a foundation. The disclosure describes a development strategy that focuses on perceiving “Drilling Learning” by an intuitive method. Symbols, known as “Knowledge Attachments” are attached to each wellbore trajectory displayed in the three-dimensional environment, with each symbol indicating a specific event—such as one related to drilling operations or problems. A knowledge attachment system is described as useful to represent disparate data at once, in such a manner that the interdependencies between the earth model and drilling operational data are evident and correlated. Operational issues and lessons learned from prior wells are said to be accessible and perceived in the context of the earth model.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,565,243 to Kim, et al. discloses a method for analyzing the connected quality of a hydrocarbon reservoir. A model of a portion of the reservoir is divided into cells, each cell having a volume and some attributes, and wherein a speed function is assigned to a portion of the cells. A reference cell is chosen. A connectivity between cells in the reservoir is determined by solving an Eikonal equation that describes the travel time propagation, the propagating front progressing outward from a reference cell until an ending condition is met. The Eikonal equation may be solved by a fast marching method with propagation velocity as a function of spatial position being provided by the speed function. Regions of the reservoir are characterized by their connective quality to the reference cell using the connectivity.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,260,508 to Lim discloses a method and system for high-resolution modeling of a well bore in a reservoir. The disclosed method comprises constructing a first unstructured mesh, having a plurality of n-dimensional simplices, corresponding to a first modeled system (space). The method comprises defining a surface bounding a second modeled space and identifying a subset of the plurality of n-dimensional simplices of the first mesh that are intersected by the surface. The subset of simplices are modified so as to adapt the first mesh such that it comprises a second mesh and a third mesh, wherein the second mesh comprises a set of simplices located entirely interior to the surface and wherein the third mesh comprises another set of simplices located entirely exterior to said surface. In this way, it is disclosed that new elements are defined within the intersected elements such that one or more of the faces of the new elements are substantially coincident with the surface (that is, they lie approximately on the surface), and such that some of the new elements lie entirely within the volume defined by said surface, and other elements entirely outside of the volume. More specifically, for each element that is intersected by the surface, a set of points at which the faces, edges or vertices of the element are intersected by the surface is determined (if the element is only intersected at a single point, it need not be subdivided into two or more new elements). At each point of intersection, a new node is created (if the point of intersection is not a node) and two new elements that incorporate the new node are generated. This process is performed for each point of intersection to subdivide the intersected element into a number of new simplex elements, some of which comprise faces that lie substantially on the modeled surface.